Over the last 6 years, we have had the pleasure of working with some incredible couples and being involved in literally hundreds of beautiful weddings. From marquee weddings on private properties, to glamorous restaurant dinners and cocktail parties by the beach - we have well and truly seen it all.

All of this experience helping to create unforgettable weddings also means that we have seen the last-minute dramas, forgotten items, rainy weather forecasts and other unpredictable scenarios that can sometimes lead to stressful situations for the happy couple. It can be tricky to know what to look out for, and what situations to prepare for, when it’s your very first time planning a wedding!

We often find ourselves giving the same advice to newly engaged couples to help them navigate their way through the process of hiring and booking furniture and styling their wedding. It's important to consider both the visual AND functional elements of your day in order to pull off a seamless wedding. Read on for our top 5 tips to keep in mind to avoid any last-minute hiccups!

1. Book your PRIORITY ITEMS ASAP

It’s so important to remember that wedding season gets extremely busy with bookings and calendars do fill up quickly! Each weekend for us means truckloads of furniture going out to beautiful venues from Brisbane to the Gold Coast and Byron Bay. For this reason, we ALWAYS recommend to book in your key pieces well in advance to avoid missing out.

When we say key pieces, we’re talking about those essential items like your dining tables and chairs (if you’re planning a sit-down reception), or cocktail furniture like dry bars, lounge packages and stools (if you’re planning a cocktail reception) along with any one-of-a-kind statement pieces that you don’t want to miss out on, like specialty backdrops, arbours or drink stations. You can then add your smaller items like textiles, tableware and other decor along the way as your plans come together.

Keep in mind that the most popular dates for weddings include peak season (April - May and again from September - November), weekends, and dates before public holidays. If you’ve chosen a busy wedding date, we recommend securing your key pieces as early as possible - between 10-12 months is ideal to avoid missing out on your priority items.

2. Have a wet-weather plan

This is our number one piece of advice for anybody planning an outdoor wedding! A wet-weather plan is so crucial to avoid any last-minute dramas on the morning of your wedding. Before hiring furniture for your big day, take a moment to think about your Plan B in the event of a rainy weather forecast - even during Spring and Summer, keep in mind that the weather can be totally unpredictable.

If you don’t have an indoor space to fall back on, hiring a marquee for your wedding is one simple solution for avoiding any stressful situations due to wet weather. With so many beautiful marquee styles available, a clear marquee can still give you that beautiful open-air feeling underneath the stars.

Photos by Heart and Colour

3. Create a furniture hire checklist to avoid missing items

With so much to think about in the lead up to your big day, it can be easy to forget about certain items when creating your furniture hire list. We’ve had plenty of last-minute phone calls before the weekend for everything from napkins, to entree cutlery, to signing tables and extra chairs.

The best way to avoid forgetting any crucial items is to go through each area of your day and make a detailed checklist of the items you’ll need to hire for your wedding, from your ceremony right through to your reception. We’ve created a super helpful furniture hire checklist on a previous blog post to refer to, so you can go through and customise your checklist to suit your own individual requirements. This way, you can tick off each item as you go and feel comfortable knowing that everything has been taken care of!

Photos by The Desert Rose Co

4. Define your overall style

It can be so easy to get carried away choosing beautiful furniture and decor without first stopping to think about the overall style you want to achieve. To create a cohesive setting, it’s important to consider the look and feel you want to create at your wedding, and then choose pieces that will work together harmoniously to bring this to life.

Whether it’s bohemian luxe, fun and tropical, or refined elegance, think about your dream wedding style and then find pieces that complement this. A great place to start is by researching inspiration on Pinterest, Instagram and wedding blogs (our own blog is a pretty great resource or you can get in touch for a copy of our Look Book!) and compiling the images that you are drawn to the most. From there, it should be easy to identify the kind of colour scheme and furniture styles that fit into your overall vision.

Or, if you are finding it difficult to choose pieces that fit into your chosen wedding style, consider our final tip...

5. Ask the experts

Let’s be honest - planning a wedding can be hard work! So why not ask the experts to help make the process easier?

We love talking through concepts and furniture plans with engaged couples, and can make recommendations to suit whatever vision you have in mind! From furniture and decor pairings like choosing the perfect wedding chair, through to suggested quantities of furniture for a cocktail wedding… this is what we do for a living, so you can get in touch with our friendly team at anytime for our expert advice ;)

If you’re currently in the process of hiring furniture for your wedding and finding it a little overwhelming, simply keep the above tips in mind to avoid any last-minute dramas whilst still creating a beautifully styled celebration.